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|caption=Greinke pitching for the Royals on July 29, 2009
|caption=Greinke pitching for the Royals on July 29, 2009
|position=[[Pitcher]]
|position=[[Pitcher]]
|team=Los Angeles Dodgers
|team=<!--GREINKE'S CONTRACT WITH THE DODGERS IS PENDING A PHYSICAL AND IS NOT OFFICIAL. DO NOT CHANGE-->Free agent
|number=
|number=--
|bats=Right
|bats=Right
|throws=Right
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* [[Milwaukee Brewers]] ({{By|2011}}–{{By|2012}})
* [[Milwaukee Brewers]] ({{By|2011}}–{{By|2012}})
* [[Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim]] ({{By|2012}})
* [[Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim]] ({{By|2012}})
* [[Lod Angeles Dodgers]] ({{By|2013}}-Present)
|highlights=<nowiki></nowiki>
|highlights=<nowiki></nowiki>
* [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star]] ([[2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|2009]])
* [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star]] ([[2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|2009]])

Revision as of 00:37, 10 December 2012

Zack Greinke
Greinke pitching for the Royals on July 29, 2009
Los Angeles Dodgers – No. --
Pitcher
Born: (1983-10-21) October 21, 1983 (age 41)
Orlando, Florida
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
debut
May 22, 2004, for the Kansas City Royals
Career statistics
(through 2012 season)
Win–loss record91–78
Earned run average3.77
Strikeouts1,332
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Donald Zackary "Zack" Greinke (/ˈɡrɪŋki/GRING-kee; born October 21, 1983) is a right-handed pitcher who is a free agent. He has pitched for the Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Greinke made his MLB debut with the Royals in 2004. He appeared in the MLB All-Star Game and won the American League Cy Young Award in 2009 with the Royals. After the 2010 season, the Royals traded Greinke to the Brewers, and in 2012, the Brewers traded Greinke to the Angels.

Early life and high school

Greinke was born in Orlando, Florida, the son of Marsha Ann (née Wilkin) and Donald Ray Greinke.[1][2] He has a younger brother, Luke. Don was a history teacher who stressed the importance of education for the Greinke kids. Zack experienced social anxiety at school, finding it hard to "fit in" with his peers.[3]

When Greinke started playing baseball at Apopka High School, he was an infielder with a powerful bat and did not pitch at all. He looked up to slugger Mark McGwire. By the end of his high school career, he had batted over .400 and hit 31 home runs.[3]

Greinke became a pitcher by accident, as an experiment to see if his strong throwing arm would result in him being a good pitcher. As a senior in 2002, Greinke compiled a 9–2 record, a 0.55 ERA, and 118 strikeouts in 63 innings.[3] After being named the Gatorade National Player of the Year, he was selected in the first round of the 2002 draft by the Kansas City Royals.[4]

Minor leagues

Greinke turned down a scholarship to Clemson to sign with the Royals.[5] He started his minor league career with the Gulf Coast Royals, appearing in 3 games. He was then promoted to the Low-A Spokane Indians, and shortly thereafter the High-A Wilmington Blue Rocks. Overall, he finished 2002 with a 3.97 ERA in 111⁄3 innings.[6]

In 2003, he played for the Blue Rocks and AA Wichita Wranglers, where he was named the Royals Minor League Pitcher of the Year, Carolina League Pitcher of the Year, and The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year, with a 15–4 record and 1.93 ERA.[7]

Major league career

Kansas City Royals (2004–10)

After starting the year at AA, Greinke made his major league debut on May 22, 2004 against the Oakland Athletics, allowing two runs in five innings. He recorded his first career win on June 8, when he pitched seven scoreless innings against the Montreal Expos. Greinke's first major league hit was a home run off Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Russ Ortiz in a 12–11 loss on June 10, 2005.

Greinke was quiet and sometimes awkward in the clubhouse. To alleviate some of his anxiety and solitude, the Royals arranged for him to live with legendary Royals third baseman George Brett.[8] Still, Greinke's uneasiness grew. By the 2005–2006 offseason, he almost quit baseball. He has stated that he was "surprised [he] came back" to baseball.[9] He left spring training for personal reasons in late February 2006.[10] It was later revealed that he was suffering from social anxiety disorder and depression.[11] He reported back to the Royals' spring training facility in Surprise, Arizona, on April 17, where he underwent ongoing pitching sessions. He was placed on the 60-day disabled list due to psychological issues and took time away from baseball entirely.[12] He began seeing a sports psychologist and taking anti-depressant medication.[3][8]

In 2007, he returned to the Royals rotation at the start of the season, but was sent to the bullpen in early May. Greinke's 2008 saw him return to the rotation and put up a good year. His 3.47 ERA was the best by a full-time Royals starter in 11 years.[13] On January 26, 2009, Greinke agreed to a four-year contract with the Royals worth $38 million.[13]

Greinke started off 2009 by not allowing a run in his first 24 innings. Greinke's 2008 season ended with 14 scoreless innings, which meant that for 38 innings in a row, he had not given up a run. Greinke was named American League Pitcher of the Month for April, his 5 wins, 0.50 ERA and 44 strikeouts all tops in the Majors.[14] On August 25, Greinke struck out 15 batters, breaking Mark Gubicza's record for strikeouts in a single game for the Royals.[15] On August 30, Greinke had a one-hit complete game against the Seattle Mariners

Greinke with the Brewers

His record for the 2009 season was 16–8, and he posted an ERA of 2.16, the lowest in MLB. On October 21, Greinke was named American League Pitcher of the Year by Sporting News.[16] On October 28, Greinke was awarded the MLBPA Players Choice AL Pitcher of the Year. On November 17, 2009, Greinke won the AL Cy Young Award.[17] Greinke credited some of his performance to his use of "modern pitching metrics" — statistics on team defense and defense independent pitching statistics — to calibrate his own approach to pitching. Greinke specifically mentioned FIP (fielding independent pitching), an indicator developed by sabermetrician Tom Tango, as his favorite statistic. "That's pretty much how I pitch, to try to keep my FIP as low as possible.[18]

Milwaukee Brewers (2011–2012)

On December 17, 2010, Greinke reportedly asked the Royals to trade him, citing he was not motivated to play for a rebuilding team.[19] On December 19, he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers with Yuniesky Betancourt and $2 million for Alcides Escobar, Lorenzo Cain, Jeremy Jeffress, and Jake Odorizzi. He was given the number 13, instead of his preferred number 23, due to number 23 already being issued to Rickie Weeks.[20] In February 2011, Greinke suffered a fractured rib while playing basketball.[21] He subsequently started the 2011 season on the disabled list.

Greinke made his Brewers debut on May 4, 2011. Greinke finished second on the team in wins despite missing the first month of the season. He finished 2011 with a 16–6 record, 3.83 ERA, and 201 strikeouts (7th in the NL) in 171 innings pitched while surrendering 45 walks. Greinke became only the fifth Brewer pitcher to strike out 200+ batters in a season. He was fourth in the NL in won-lost percentage (.727), and sixth in wins.[22] He went a perfect 11–0 in his starts at Miller Park.

On April 7, 2012, in his first start of the season, Greinke pitched 7 scoreless innings while giving up 4 hits and striking out 7. The Brewers went on to beat the Cardinals 6–0.[23]

In an oddity, Greinke became the first pitcher to start three straight games for his team in 95 years. On July 7, he was ejected from the game after just 4 pitches for angrily throwing the ball into the ground following a close play at first base. The following day, Greinke started again, but lasted only until the third inning.[24] The All-Star break followed, and Greinke was the Brewers' starter on July 13, the team's next game. Greinke's third start ended after 5 innings. Before this, the most recent pitcher to start back-to-back-to-back games was Red Faber in the 1917, who started both games of a September 3 doubleheader, throwing just six innings in total, followed by a complete game win the following day.[25]

Greinke never recorded a loss in any of his starts at Miller Park.[26]

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2012)

The Brewers traded Greinke on July 27 to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in exchange for top infield prospect Jean Segura and pitchers Ariel Pena and John Hellweg.[26] He made his first start for the Angels on July 29.[27]

After a stretch of four unproductive starts from August 3–19 (1–1, 7.20 ERA in 25 innings), Greinke followed up with four consecutive starts of at least seven innings and two or fewer runs — all of them wins. (In those starts, he produced a 1.88 ERA in 281⁄3 innings.)[27]

Greinke became the first pitcher since 1920 to record 13 strikeouts in five innings or less in a game against the Seattle Mariners on September 25. He would then combine with four other Angels pitchers to tie an American League record by striking out 20 batters in a nine-inning game.[28]

Los Angeles Dodgers

Greinke agreed to a six-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers worth $147 million on December 8, 2012. The deal, which is pending a physical, would be the largest ever for a right-handed pitcher.[29]

Pitching style

Greinke throws six pitches:

  • Four-seam fastball — 92 to 96 miles per hour (148–154 km/h)
  • Two-seam fastball — 91 to 95 miles per hour (146–153 km/h)
  • Cutter — 87 to 91 miles per hour (140–146 km/h)
  • Slider — 82 to 86 miles per hour (132–138 km/h)
  • Curveball — 68 to 77 miles per hour (109–124 km/h)
  • Changeup — 85 to 87 miles per hour (137–140 km/h)

His two-seamer is his most-used pitch against right-handed hitters and is used more frequently than against lefties, as is his slider. His changeup is only thrown to left-handed hitters. Greinke's curveball is typically used early in the count, while his slider is his most common 2-strike pitch.

In the time since PITCHf/x began tracking pitch data, Greinke's slider has produced impressive results. Hitters have only a .154 batting average and .230 slugging percentage against the pitch. It has produced 51% of his strikeouts, exceeding the 39% it composes of his 2-strike pitch total. Its whiff rate is 42% over this span, and more than half the pitches put in play are ground balls.[30]

Greinke has produced good strikeout-to-walk ratios throughout his career, finishing in his league's top 10 four times.[31] As of September 11, 2012, Greinke ranks 10th among active pitchers in the category, at 3.5:1.[32]

He also uses effective pitching mechanics, allowing him to disguise his pitches well and delay pitch recognition by the hitter.[3][33]

Personal life

Greinke is married to Miss Daytona Beach USA 2008 Emily Kuchar.[34] Greinke met Kuchar in high school at Apopka High School. Kuchar is a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.[35]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Zack Greinke No. 13 SP". ESPN. Retrieved January 26, 2011.
  2. ^ zack greinke
  3. ^ a b c d e "Zack Greinke Biography". JockBio. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
  4. ^ "Royals Select RHP Zack Greinke in 1st round" (Press release). Major League Baseball. June 4, 2002. Retrieved January 26, 2011.
  5. ^ "Greinke won't play for Tigers". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. Associated Press. July 14, 2002. Retrieved January 26, 2011.
  6. ^ "Zack Greinke Minor League Statistics & History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
  7. ^ "Gettis, Greinke win honors". MLB.com. September 23, 2003. Retrieved December 9, 2009.
  8. ^ a b Passan, Jeff (April 29, 2009). "Greinke's redemption and pursuit of perfection". Yahoo!. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
  9. ^ Hunt, Michael (February 22, 2011). "Greinke man of few words but speaks his mind". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
  10. ^ Eskew, Alan (April 5, 2007). "Greinke edged in duel with Dice-K". MLB.com. Retrieved July 18, 2009.
  11. ^ "'A long way to go' Greinke battles depression in bid for K.C. rotation". Sports Illustrated. March 15, 2007. Retrieved July 18, 2009.
  12. ^ Jones, Matt (June 12, 201). "Zack Greinke faces former team Kansas City Royals". USA Today. Retrieved December 9, 2012.
  13. ^ a b "Rising righty Greinke, Royals agree to four-year deal". CBS Sports. January 26, 2009. Retrieved July 18, 2009.
  14. ^ Kaegel, Dick (May 5, 2009). "Greinke tops among AL hurlers in April". MLB.com. Retrieved December 9, 2009.
  15. ^ Dodd, Rustin (August 26, 2009). "Greinke's KC-record 15 K's wow Tribe". MLB.com. Retrieved August 27, 2009.
  16. ^ Bahr, Chris (October 21, 2009). "Sporting News names Zack Greinke, Tim Lincecum AL, NL Pitchers of the Year". Sportingnews.com. Retrieved October 21, 2009.
  17. ^ Kaegel, Dick (November 17, 2009). "Greinke gets one more win: AL Cy Young". MLB.com. Retrieved September 18, 2012.
  18. ^ Kepner, Tyler (November 18, 2009). "Use of Statistics Helps Greinke to A.L. Cy Young". New York Times. Retrieved November 18, 2009.
  19. ^ James, Mike. "Greinke requests trade from KC".
  20. ^ McCalvy, Adam (December 19, 2010). "Brewers add Greinke in deal with Royals". MLB.com. Retrieved December 19, 2010.
  21. ^ Heyman, Jon (March 8, 2011). "Greinke's childish mistake costs Brewers after big investment". SI.com. SportsIllustrated.CNN.com. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  22. ^ "Zack Greinke Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
  23. ^ McCalvy, Adam (April 7, 2012). "Crew welcomes early returns by Hart, Greinke". MLB.
  24. ^ Boeck, Scott (July 13, 2012). "Greinke's rubber arm: To start third consecutive game". USA Today. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
  25. ^ Kartje, Ryan (July 8, 2012). his-/landing_brewers.html?blockID=757918 "Brewers to start Greinke three straight games". Fox Sports Wisconsin. Retrieved December 9, 2012. {{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help)
  26. ^ a b Hoffman, Mark (July 27, 2012). "Brewers trade Zach Greinke for 3 Angels Prospects". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
  27. ^ a b "Zack Greinke 2012 Pitching Gamelogs". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
  28. ^ "Zack Greinke strikes out 13 as Angels hold steady in wild-card chase". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 9, 2012.
  29. ^ Dodgers nearing deal with Greinke
  30. ^ "Brooks Baseball · Home of the PitchFX Tool - Player Card: Zack Greinke". Brooks Baseball. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
  31. ^ "Zack Greinke Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
  32. ^ "Active Leaders & Records for Strikeouts / Base On Balls". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
  33. ^ "Scouting Royals Pitcher Zack Greinke". Baseball-Intellect. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
  34. ^ "Jerry Crasnick: Zack Greinke is a changed man". ESPN. February 21, 2010. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
  35. ^ Dick Kaegel. "Quiet Greinke making plenty of noise". Mlb.mlb.com. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
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Awards and achievements
Preceded by American League Cy Young Award
2009 		Succeeded by
Preceded by American League Pitcher of the Month
April 2009 		Succeeded by

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